On Monday, Daimler Truck raised concerns about the rapid pace of electric vehicle (EV) adoption and the unsustainable costs associated with meeting decarbonization targets.
Dr. Andreas Gorbach, a board member at Daimler Truck AG and head of its truck technology division, stressed that the burden is not on original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) but rather on the lack of supporting infrastructure.
Speaking ahead of the Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung (IAA) Transportation show, Gorbach emphasized that while engineering capabilities for EV trucks are on track, the regulatory environment is failing to keep pace.
Regulations in the European Union require that 15% of new truck sales be net-zero by 2025, scaling to 45% by 2030. However, the EV charging grid needed to support this transition is severely lacking.
“The biggest issue is infrastructure,” said Gorbach, noting that Europe has six million trucks on the road burning 60 million tonnes of diesel annually.
To meet the 2030 target, 35,000 high-power charging stations are needed, but currently, only 200 are available.
Similarly, hydrogen infrastructure is underdeveloped, with only about 120 refueling stations available, far short of the 2,000 required.
To meet the 2030 net-zero targets, Europe would need to build 400 high-power chargers and 30 refueling stations each month—something Gorbach admitted is not happening.
Although some countries, like Germany, are making progress, most EU member states are falling behind.
Gorbach highlighted that the costs of smart trucks like Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 are rising due to misalignment between infrastructure development and regulatory expectations.
This results in lagging sales of net-zero trucks and extreme penalties for OEMs that fail to meet fleet targets.
Ultimately, the cost of these penalties will be passed on to consumers, increasing the price of goods and contributing to the rising cost of living across the EU.
“This industry is facing the biggest challenge we’ve ever seen,” Gorbach warned. He illustrated the scale of the problem by comparing current diesel refueling times to EV charging needs, stating that charging 50 eActros trucks in one hour would require 35 megawatts of power, a massive investment.
When asked if current regulations should be reconsidered, Gorbach replied with a firm “yes,” calling for a reassessment of what is feasible.
He argued that politicians and policymakers should focus on aligning infrastructure development with OEM progress rather than imposing punitive penalties.
“If infrastructure doesn’t catch up, there won’t be enough zero-emission trucks on the market to comply with regulations,” Gorbach said, urging for a reduction in penalties and more realistic, synchronised assessments to ensure the EV transition can be achieved sustainably.
The real bottleneck, Gorbach concluded, is infrastructure, not OEMs. Without rapid investment in charging and refueling networks, manufacturers like Daimler will continue to face “draconian penalties” while struggling to meet net-zero targets.
